Giuliani Works to Sway Religious Conservatives
By MICHAEL LUO
nytimes.com
( When Rudy promises, do they remember he promised three women he'd love, honor and cherish them until they died? )
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 — Rudolph W. Giuliani strolled into the maw of the religious conservative movement Saturday, seeking to defuse a crowd of over 2,000 activists with language of Christian inclusiveness and shared values, and he was met with a standing ovation after offering a litany of promises meant to convey that he would not be their enemy if elected president.
Mr. Giuliani, who addressed the audience at the Values Voter Summit here for about 40 minutes, talked about his beliefs, saying his reliance on God’s guidance was at “the core of who I am.” He said he understood and agreed with the feelings of many that their “values are under assault by a culture that is moving in the wrong direction.”
Mr. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, acknowledged that members of the audience probably had serious differences with him, but after his speech, even his critics said his performance may have swayed some Christian conservatives to at least drop opposition to his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr. Giuliani’s appearance Saturday was one of the most highly anticipated moments of the campaign. When Mr. Giuliani announced his presidential run this year, many dismissed his chances of winning the Republican nomination because of his liberal views on social issues — a core part of the party’s conservative platform — and his personal life. Mr. Giuliani supports abortion and gay rights. He has been twice divorced and is estranged from his two children. He was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic schools, though he does not regularly attend church.
But he has led in national polls, prompting growing alarm among Christian conservative leaders whose followers are a powerful voting bloc in the party. Several dozen evangelical leaders met recently in Salt Lake City and vowed to support a third-party candidate if Mr. Giuliani won the nomination.
But Rick Scarborough, an influential conservative leader who heads the group Vision America, said Mr. Giuliani might have succeeded in defusing that possibility and helped his chances in the general election among Christian conservatives with his performance Saturday.
“He might have derailed the effort to a third party today,” Mr. Scarborough said. But he added that he would still do all he could to “prevent him from getting the nomination.”
In his speech, Mr. Giuliani took a thinly veiled shot at one rival, Mitt Romney, whose campaign has been vigorously courting social conservatives but has battled skepticism because of his relatively recent conversion to an opponent of abortion rights.
“Isn’t it better that I tell you what I really believe, instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing winds?” Mr. Giuliani asked, drawing murmurs of approval and applause from the audience.
There were signs that Mr. Giuliani might have succeeded in drawing some Christian conservatives to him.
David and Merrily Crowe of Tennessee, who run an evangelical group called Restore America, arrived at the convention hall this morning skeptical but curious about Mr. Giuliani. They came away moved by what they described as his “honesty” and “transparency.”
“My wife leaned over to me afterward and said, ‘I’m going to vote for him,’” Mr. Crowe said. “And I probably will, too.”
Mr. Giuliani spoke with a tone of humility, saying at one point: “I come to you today as I would if I were your president, with an open mind and an open heart, and all I ask is that you do the same. Please know this, you have absolutely nothing to fear from me.”
His speech, which was frequently interrupted by applause, was peppered in the latter half with assurances that he would work to ensure that people of faith were not banished from the public square, to reduce abortion and increase adoptions, to appoint strict constructionist judges and to protect school choice, an important issue to many evangelicals.
“I’ll continue to extend my hand to you,” he concluded, “and I hope you’ll take it.”
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